Fourth Sunday of Advent, Year C

St. Luke 1:39-45: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb".

“See how new and how wonderful this mystery is. He has not yet left the womb but he speaks by leaping; he is not yet allowed to cry out but he makes himself heard by his actions; he has not yet seen the light but he points out the Sun; he has not yet been born but he is keen to act as precursor. The Lord is present, so he cannot contain himself or let nature run its course: He wants to break out of the prison of his mother’s womb and he makes sure he witnesses to the fact that the Saviour is about to come” (St. John Chrysostom).  

Twenty-seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

Genesis 2.7,15,18-24: "So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, 'This at last is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.'"

"The marriage covenant, by which a man and a woman form with each other an intimate communion of life and love, has been founded and endowed with its own special laws by the Creator. By its very nature it is ordered to the good of the couple, as well as to the generation and education of children" (CCC 1660).

Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 7.31-37: "They brought to him a man who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hands on him...Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha", that is, "Be opened". And immediately the man's eyes were opened, his tongue was released and he could speak plainly."

Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 7.1-8,14-15,21-23: "There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile them, but the things that come out of a person are what defile them".

Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. John 6.53,60-69: "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life". Simon Peter answered him, "Lord to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life".

"Hold back nothing of yourself for yourself from Jesus. Give your all to him, who gave his all for you" (St. Francis of Assisi).

Twentieth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. John 6.51-58: "Very truly I tell you whoever eats eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me and I in them".

"I put before you the one great thing to love on earth: the Blessed Sacrament. There you will find romance, glory, honour, fidelity, and the true way of all your loves on earth and more than that...God" (J. R. R. Tolkien)

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. John 6. 41-51: Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them".

In Holy Communion we die to sin and he gives us grace, we die to our own wills and receive the divine will, we humbly give him our stony hearts and have them returned to us softened and natural, we give him our humanity and he gives us his divinity. We commune with Christ's death and receive his life.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. John 6.41-51: "I am the bread of life. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh".

"All people desire to leave a lasting mark. But what endures? Money does not. Even buildings do not, nor books. After a certain time longer or shorter, all these things disappear. The only thing that lasts forever is the human soul, the human person created by god for eternity" (Pope Benedict XVI).

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. John 6.1-15: "Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks, and gave them out to all who were sitting ready; he then did the same with the fish, giving out as much as was wanted".

O Sacrament most holy, O Sacrament divine, all praise and all thanksgiving be every moment thine.

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 6.30-34: "...as he stepped ashore he saw a large crowd; and he took pity on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd, and he set himself to teach them at some length".

"The Lord is my shepherd there is nothing that I lack, fresh and green are the pastures where he bids me rest. Near restful waters he leads me to renew my dropping spirits, he restores my soul" (Psalm 23).

Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 6.7-13: "Jesus summoned the twelve and began sending them out in pairs giving them authority over the unclean spirits. And he instructed them to take nothing for their journey except a staff - no bread, no haversack no coppers for their purses."

"I am on a mission and have become the bearer of that which another has committed to my charge" (Pope Benedict XVI).

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 6.1-6: "Then Jesus said to them, 'A prophet is not without honour except in his hometown, and among his own kin, and in his own house'. And Jesus could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. And Jesus was amazed at there unbelief".

Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 5.21-43: "Jesus said to the woman suffering from hemorrhages, 'Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace and be healed of your disease'".

"I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong" (2 Corinthians 12.9-10)

The Birth of St. John the Baptist

St. Luke 1.75-66,80: "Fear came over all their neighbours, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. All who heard them pondered them and said, 'What then will this child become?' For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him."

Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 4.26-34: "The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed which at the time of its sowing in the soil is the smallest of all seeds on earth; yet once it is sown it grows into the biggest shrub of them all and puts forth big branches so that the birds of the air can shelter in its shade".

Solemnity of Corpus Christi (the Body and Blood of Christ)

St. Mark 14.12-16,22-26: "While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, 'Take; this is my Body'. Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks gave it to them, and all of them drank from it'. He said, 'This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many'".

"Let the whole of mankind tremble the whole world shake and the heavens exult when Christ, the Son of the living God, is on the altar in the hands of a priest. O admirable heights and sublime lowliness! O sublime humility! O humble sublimity! That the Lord of the universe, God and the Son of God, so humbles Himself that for our salvation He hides Himself under the little form of bread! Look, brothers, at the humility of God and pour out your hearts before Him! Humble yourselves, as well, that you may be exalted by Him. Therefore, hold back nothing of yourselves for yourselves so that He Who gives Himself totally to you may receive you totally" (St. Francis of Assisi).

Thursday, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 12. 28-34: "'Which commandment is the greatest of all?' Jesus answered, 'The first is Hear O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbour as yourself'".

"As charity comprises the two commandments to which the Lord related the whole Law and the prophets...so the Ten Commandments were themselves given on two tablets. Three were written on one tablet and seven on the other" (St. Augustine).

Wednesday, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 12.18-27: "And as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob'? "He is God not of the dead, but of the living".

"How great will your glory and happiness be, to be allowed to see God, to be honoured with sharing the joy of salvation and eternal light with Christ your Lord and God,...to delight in the joy of immortality in the Kingdom of heave with the righteous and God's friends" (St. Cyprian).

Tuesday, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 12.13-17: "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor's and to God the things that are God's".

Monday, Ninth Week in Ordinary Time (Year B)

St. Mark 11.1-12: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord's doing, and it is amazing in our eyes."

"Often the Church is called the building of God. The Lord compared himself to a stone which the builders rejected, but which was made into the cornerstone. On this foundation the Church is built by the apostles and from it the Church receives solidarity and unity" (CCC756).